With about 405,000 people living at or below the poverty level within Second Harvest's service area, including about 185,000 children, donations are important all year, said Kay Carter, executive director.

Consistently meeting demand can be challenging. Donations tend to fall off in summer, but that's when the need for food increases.

When schools close for the year, children are unable to take advantage of free or reduced-price meals, Carter said.

Food drives just ahead of the summer months are now a goal at Second Harvest.

"Everybody thinks about doing food drives at the holidays," said Carter. "We've been fortunate to have groups like Mayfair step up to do drives in summer."